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About The IGF

IndieGames.com is presented by the UBM TechWeb Game Network, which runs the Independent Games Festival & Summit every year at Game Developers Conference. The company (producer of the Game Developers Conference series, Gamasutra.com and Game Developer magazine) established the Independent Games Festival in 1998 to encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers.

GDC China organizers have announced the finalists for IGF China, and have highlighted a series of talks for the Independent Games Summit, including talks by former IGF nominees Thirty Flights of Loving and Retro/Grade.

UBM Tech Game Network's GDC China, now in its sixth year, has moved up to September this year, running from the 15th to the 17th at the Shanghai International Convention Center in Shanghai, China. The event will be co-located with Cloud Connect China.

With over 250 entries this year, IGF China saw almost a 60% increase from 2012's event. The eight main competition finalists and five student finalists are as follows:

All finalists will be playable during GDC China in the IGF Pavilion. The six main competition winners and one student winner will be announced at the IGF China Awards Ceremony on September 16th.

Also of note is the growing Independent Games Summit lineup for GDC China, which - as the rest of the show - will be simultaneously translated into Chinese and English language for delegates:

- Brendon Chung of Blendo Games will present 'The Making of Thirty Flights of Loving,' in which he will explore the writing, character development, and environmental storytelling behind the 2013 IGF Excellence in Narrative nominee.

- 2009 Design and Audio IGF nominee Matt Gilgenbach (Retro/Grade) will discuss 'Obsessive-Compulsive Development: A Difficult Indie Journey.' In examining over four years of grueling crunch, Gilgenbach will revisit what went wrong on the project and in his personal life, and will describe his new, healthier approach to development.

- Cong Yun CEO Bai Dongli will offer advice to indie studios looking to build their own analytics teams in 'The Value in Analyzing Game Data.' Dongli will show how studios are establishing and monitoring common data points, analyzing data in an effort to identify problems within a product, and finding new ways to fit data analysts into game operations teams.

- Ninja Robot Dinosaur Entertainment's Shane Neville will explain how the team designed an IAP system that generated 30% of his game's revenue without using any of the free-to-play tricks that have given IAP a bad reputation in 'Shellrazer - Designing In-App-Purchase Without Losing Your Soul.'

- Hotsauce Interactive's Georg Backer compares his indie (Catcha Catcha Aliens!) and triple-A experiences (Black & White, The Movies, Fable 1, 2 & 3) in 'Walking the Road from AAA to Indie... and Beyond.' With over a decade of lessons to learn from, Backer's tips will cover design, development, platforms, publishing, marketing, and selling, for teams of all budget sizes.

Those interested in attending either the IGF awards ceremony or the Independent Games Summit can do so by registering for a pass on the official GDC China website.

For all the latest information on GDC China, visit the show's website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.